Reviews

Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell
Posted by The Devil (admin) on Jul 26 2009
Reviews >> Theatre

Stars ✪✪✪✪

The journalist Jonathan Meades once described Jeffrey Bernard's Spectator column as a "suicide note in weekly installments" and, indeed, Bernard was a legend in his own lunchtime. Or, more aptly, a legend in his own closing time, for Bernard was one of those flamboyant, romantic alcoholics—though married four times, he was often heard to describe booze as "the other woman".

So, at the beginning of the play, Jeff wakes up at 5 in the morning, locked in his local pub, The Coach And Horses. And, for lack of anything else to do, he liberates a bottle of vodka from the bar and tells us about his life. And a fascinating life it is. As a society, we seem to nurse a fascination for the doomed and reckless and as such, although he behaves appallingly to the people who were close to him, Bernard is still an attractive character.

The ensemble cast is perfectly competent, but they are hardly more than props for the young Gareth White's astonishingly convincing Jeff. It is never easy for a young man to play someone who is supposed to be so much older than himself (and who is drunk into the bargain) but White pulls it off beautifully, holding our attention throughout the 100 minute show. Peter O'Toole would have been proud, I am sure.

This is a throughly entertaining performance and your humble reviewer felt real pity for the hunched figure who shuffled unsteadily out through the "pub" doors at the end of it all.

Company: Centre Stage Theatre Company. Venue Sweet ECA (Venue 186), Edinburgh Fringe 2006.

© Chris Mounsey, August 2006—Published on EdinburghGuide.com

Last changed: Jul 26 2009 at 2:18 PM